Messages

Exactly what you're describing was done in "Into the Light"

EDIT: Here

Thanks Scorpy!  I appreciate the comments.  Good luck on joining the Hall of Completion.  Five people there now!

Now here's where I shamelessly try to promote the game some more:

To everyone who played the game, now that the AGS game database is working again, why not leave a vote and a comment over on the game's page?

And if you use Digg, how's about giving me some luvin'?

Also, for those interested, I'm going to be posting a post-mortem on the game, looking back at the development process of Linus, on the xii games blog.  So, if you like that kind of thing, it should be up this week.  Possibly today.

Thanks!

Also, the BBC series, "Life on Mars."  A modern-day detective's partner is kidnapped by baddies while they're close to cracking a creepy case and then he's hit by a car.  He wakes up in the 1970's and has no idea what's going on.  He soon realizes that he's in a coma and can sometimes hear the beeping of his heart monitor and people's voices urging him to wake up, but he can't.  So he tries to solve a very similar case in his past/dream world that might help solve the real case in the present/real world.

A good show.  I haven't seen the whole series, but as soon as I get some time...

Mac: No!  You must remain out there.  But you have Alynn to keep you company now.

Alynn: Thank you for being the second person to join the Hall of Completion!!!

Buloght: Thanks for the nice comment!  I'm glad you like it so far.  Doesn't Nik just rock?

ManicMatt: Yeah, I realize that this game isn't going to appeal to everyone.  It's not exactly your standard adventure.  And the game is really just one big multi-layered logic puzzle, which I know doesn't appeal to everyone, but it's the kind of mind-bender that I like.  So, it won't appeal to everyone, but at least the unique concept, graphics, and music can be appreciated by all!  And like Geoff said, once the logic-y stuff starts setting in, the game really comes together.  Thanks for playing!

Geoffkhan: Thanks again for your beta-ing help!  And hurry up with Super Jazz Man!

Awesome stuff, Bernie!  I loved Kitty and I'm loving this.  The only thing that annoys me is trying to control it with the keyboard.  I need to invest in a game pad or something.

Excellent job, AGAIN! Congratulations!

I find that never switching the "in the zone" mode off works for me.  I do all my best designing in the shower.  (both Anna and WLBSWHEAC were conceived and designed entirely in my head during showers) I also do all my best coding in the shower.  Not that I have a computer in there or anything, I just puzzle over ways to get around tricky bits of code (lots of that in WLBSWHEAC) while in the shower. 

Unless I have more people with whom I need to coordinate development, I rarely keep a real design document.  I find that it's much easier to keep it in my head where I can edit and change things without having to deal with computery things.

When I'm out of the shower, I'm still working in my head.  I usually carry around a piece of scratch paper and a pen (I need to upgrade to a notebook) and write down ideas, plans, code, whatever, so when I get interupted by real life, I can start right back where I stopped.  This way, I never really lose my "in the zone mode."

However, my wife has insisted that I stop writing notes during sex.

Gah!  Sorry about the bandwidth thing.  I have a number of websites and I can manually set the bandwidth limit for each.  In preparation for the launch, I wanted to set the bandwidth limit to 100 GB /Month, but I set it to 10 GB on accident!

The main download should be working again!  Gah!

And congrats to Mac, for being the first person on the Hall of Completions!

Check out some of "rightMind's" photoshop entries carefully to really get your mind blown. 

Heh, caught on to that, did you?  For more fun, check out how long I've been planning this stunt by looking at the dates that I created the fake accounts...  The seeds were sown long ago...  Also, note that "sanou" is Japanese for the left lobe of the brain.  Left brain... RightMind...

...

I have no life... 

Did you finish both stories...

Spoiler

simultaneously? 

[close]

[vote for Nik for Best Music in this years AGS Awards!]

Are the original creators fake accounts?

I guess DG is off the hook now.  Does this mean that I don't get to keep my best first post ever award?

And, yeah, Gilbot, it's much harder if you try to follow both stories at once. 

I think the music volume text for teh japenese half of the option were reversed.

D'oh! Chalk that up to my inability to read Kanji!  I'm not that concerned though.  If I ever release a version 1.1, I'll switch those around.  Thanks!

And finally, I'd like to add a huge thanks to Nikolas for his help throughout the development of this game.  I set in front of him an epic challenge: to create two tracks of music that were completely different in sound and mood, but could be played at the same time and feel like the same piece, and he nailed it.  The alien tune is so addictive, that my wife often hums the tune while making me a sandwich, washing the dishes, giving me a massage, or other wifely chores.  Nik also helped me with suggestions on the game, website, advertising, everything.  He was a pleasure to work with and I only wish I could pay him for his services. (Maybe next time Nik!)  Even if this game doesn't appeal to you, you can still enjoy the awesome soundtrack, so download it!

So, in conclusion ladies and gellyspoons, vote for Nik for Best Music in this years AGS Awards!

I already released my offering which I previewed during the last Release Something.

Here it is:

What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes Are Closed

Then you assign diferent characters various tasks, explore/map the island, try not to get any of the castaways killed.

Or, if you wanted to stay more faithful to the show, you could assign different characters various tasks, not even attempt to map the island, ignore important plot points, keep unnecessary secrets, never speak to 80% of the people you're marooned with, and act in completely self-indulgent manners.

That game would kick-ass!

I don't mind, but my wife might.  She's a small Japanese gal, though, so you could probably take her.

Looking forward to hear some post-play thoughts!  And I wonder who will be the first to add their name to the Hall of Completion!

[He never talks to me anymore. He never talks to anyone anymore. His eyes are always closed.I wonder what he sees...]

He never talks to me anymore.  He never talks to anyone anymore. 

His eyes are always closed.

I wonder what he sees...



linus.rar (42.6 MB) or linus.zip (71.4 MB)

Features

   
• Unique dual story gameplay
• Multiple Endings
• English and Japanese Language
• Loads of graphical effects
• A dynamic music system and amazing soundtrack
• An exciting and bizarre story
• Another exciting and bizarre story
• A cool interactive manual
• Add your name to the online Hall of Completion
• Gods, aliens, samurai, and Charlton Heston

Screenshots

Interactive Manual

The game's interactive online manual can be accessed

here.[/list]

Hall of Completions

After completing the game, you will be given a code to add your name to the online Hall of Completion!

The Hall of Completion can be accessed from

the game's webpage.[/list]

Soundtrack

Download the game's fantastic soundtrack by

Nikolas Sideris[/list]

linus_soundtrack.zip (6.8 MB)

Credits

   

Vince Twelve - Design, Writing, Art, Programming
   Kumiko Twelve - Japanese Translations, Support, Love
   Nikolas Sideris - Music, Sound
   Erin "The Ivy" Robinson - Xarnax and Xarnax Dialogue
   Greg Schlaepfer - Bass, Guitar, and Percussion Samples
   Chris Jones - Adventure Game Studio

Beta Testers:

Steve McCrea
Mordalles
Erin "The Ivy" Robinson
Greg Schlaepfer
Luke "Erenan" Simpson
Dr. Zaiss

[/list]

Technical Recommendations

This game uses a lot of animations and transparencies on the screen at once, and since the engine lacks real hardware acceleration, the game will get bogged down on slower computers.  On a slow computer (say, less than 1.5GHz) animations will slow down and the sound will often skip.

I've included an option in the game's option menu that turns off some of the uneccessary effects which can help performance.  If this doesn't resolve the problem, I'm sorry.  But remember: it's just a freeware game!

linus.rar (42.6 MB) or linus.zip (71.4 MB)

I'm in the same boat as Caine, since it's now lunchtime the day after thanksgiving.  But I went to an American-ish buffet place with my family last night because they were having a special turkey dinner.  It's the first time I've had turkey in Japan.  It was... decent.  But when I visited my parents in June, I made my dad cook up a full Thanksgiving dinner to make up for the last two that I had missed.  So I pretended that I was eating that.  Mmmmmmm...

I'm thankful for my beautiful wife and daughter, both of whom get cuter every day.

Ok, I updated the file on my server, the new file is located at

http://games.thexiis.com/files/HD/Heartland_Deluxe.exe

You can update the games page... again.

Oops, LimpingFish (and everyone else looking to download), I moved the file to http://games.thexiis.com/files/HD/Heartland_Deluxe.exe because the server that I put it on was already close to the bandwidth limit.  This server is the one that I should have put it on in the first place.  Could you update the link on the game's page?

Skyfire, may I ask out of curiosity what race you are?

You have to

Spoiler

use the chemical on the taps, not the sponge.  Though I agree that the other way should work too.

[close]

I already started!